200 Bkimley, Breeding- Habits of Dendroica x'igorsii. [April 



a rule alights in the next tree before coiiinig to the nest, or else 

 in a tree beyond, and then hops down to the nest in a desultory 

 sort of way, seldom going at once to the tree the nest is in. The 

 female does most of the building, but on one occasion we 

 observed the male assisting her. As a rule, however, he merely 

 accompanies her in her journeys, keeping a little way ofl' and 

 singing assiduously his own individual song. The song of the 

 Pine Warbler varies within certain limits, the usual song being 

 very different from a nuptial song which is use^l only in the 

 breeding season and by one fourth or less of the males. 



The nest is always placed in a pine, the two species {^Piuus 

 //litis and P. tccdd) being used about equally, but the situation 

 varies a good deal. It may be on a horizontal limb, or built 

 among the small twigs toward the end of a limb ; in whichever 

 position, it is put there to stay and takes a good deal of pulling 

 to get it away. It may be close to the trunk or as far oH" as fif- 

 teen feet. The height too varies from twelve to eighty feet, the 

 usual height being from thirty to fifty feet. The nest is solid 

 and deep. It is constructed of weed stems, horsehair, and 

 grapevine bark, and is thickly lined with horsehair and feathers. 

 The dark-colored grapevine bark on the outside gives it an 

 appearance ciiaracteristic of this species. A good deal of cater- 

 pillar silk also is used, as well as small cocoons, in its construction. 



The eggs generally are four, sometimes three, and very rarely 

 five. Four is the usual set for the second and third laying as 

 well as for the first, while three seems usually to be the result of 

 bad weather, as we have taken second sets of four from birds 

 that had previously laid three. When one nest is taken, this 

 species immediately builds another nest and lays another set, 

 which I believe from my observations to be an almost universal 

 trait among our small land birds. 



The female incubates as a rule, but we have on several occa- 

 sions found the male on the nest. When the eggs are taken the 

 female usually tries the broken wing dodge. The majority of 

 breeding females are in the dull plumage with little or no yellow 

 below ; a few, however, are bright yellow below and not much 

 duller than the males, which renders it difiicult in such cases to 

 distinguish the sexes. 



To conclude, I may state that the above observations are the 

 result of watching the construction of over fifty nests of this spe- 

 cies, thirty of which I found last year. 



